HAVERFORD, Pa. - In its final tuneup before the Centennial Conference Championships, the Haverford College men's track & field team contested the Keogh Invitational inside Alumni Field House, placing second among five teams. Haverford compiled 110 total points despite a limited number of entrants.
The 3,000-meter contingent was paced by an event title from Nico Tripeny, as the junior posted a PR with a 8:43.93, the ninth-best time so far in the Centennial Conference. Ryan Kredell was the second place finisher (8:46.78), ahead of Amos Karlsen (9:12.88) in fifth and Evan Daniels (9:20.57) in eighth.
A large grouping of 800 meter finishers saw Charlie Ferguson lead the field in 2:00.42, a new career best performance. Matthew Denton (2:02.70) crossed in third while Reed Solomon (2:02.75) was fourth. Scott Kaiser (2:03.45) clocked a fifth-place showing to round out the Haverford scorers. Also completing the 800 meters for the Fords were Michael Franco (2:07.67), Sammy Schindel (2:10.05), Sam Diaz (2:12.33), Kieran McDonnell (2:13.12), Caesar Dai (2:13.43), and Seawon Park (2:14.42).
A large mile grouping was highlighted by the prowess of Nathan Leighninger, as the junior crossed in third (4:31.16) ahead of Jeffrey Allen in fifth (4:34.94). Seamus Fraser (4:45.95) and Seamus Flannery (4:46.43) finished 11th and 13th, respectively. William Harris (4:55.22) and Nick Scardigno (5:01.43) also clocked finishes within the top 20. Jay Whitsell (5:03.66), Rowan Shigeno (5:16.21), and Keqing He (5:41.61) also completed the mile for Haverford.
In the sprint events, Alex Reichard marked his return to competition with a solid performance in the 60 meters, clocking a 7.35 for second overall. Reichard was just short of his personal best, which also is the 10th-best time in program history. Amon-Ra Kamit finished 11th (7.75). In the 200 meters, Kevin Villafane (28.11) was the 12th place finisher ahead of Matthew Ruiz in 13th (28.41).
Haverford's 4x200 meter relay squad picked up the event title with a 1:38.59 as the team of Ravi Eaton, Nathan Ma, Jonathan Hill, and Kamit looked strong in that time trial. Three separate groupings of 4x400 meter relay teams competed against each other, with the squad of Jacob Foster, Eaton, Hill, and Kaiser coming in second (3:37.50) in a spirited display between teammates.
Foster posted a jump of 5.98 meters (19 feet, 7.5 inches) in the long jump for second place overall, while Nathan Ma finished sixth, clearing 5.31 meters (17 feet, 5.25 inches). Ethan Gadra notched a mark of 4.10 meters (13 feet, 5.25 inches) in the pole vault in his final action before his Centennial title defense.
Cyrus Slavin led the throwers with a 10.68 meter throw in the shot put (35 feet, 0.5 inches), scoring for the Fords while Juan Miguel Pinto Diaz threw 8.24 meters (27 feet, 0.5 inches), ahead of Tiger Wang dropping a 7.69 meter throw (25 feet, 2.75 inches) and Ethan Ezray contributing a 5.72 meter mark (18 feet, 9.25 inches).
The Fords will now ramp up final prep for the much anticipated Centennial Conference Championships, which will take place on February 26 and 27 at Ursinus College. More information including live video and results will be available early next week.